Changes of malacofauna in a small lowland river in eastern Poland

Abstract

In 2016, the species composition and the structure of the dominance of molluscs in the Muchawka River (left-bank tributary of the Liwiec River) were assessed. The occurrence of 19 species of molluscs were recorded, including 11 species of snails and 8 species of mussels. The eudominant was Pisidium casertanum, which, only in the last two sites, constituted 43.1% of all molluscs. Two other species of molluscs from the Sphaeriidae family were also eudominants – Pisidium subtruncatum (22.8%) and Sphaerium corneum (10.3%). Snails were most frequently represented by the dominant Bithynia tentaculata, constituting 5.4% of all molluscs, and the subdominant Bathyomphalus contortus at 2.8%. Sixteen years after the first malacological analysis, an increase in species richness and differences in the dominance of molluscs were found in the Muchawka River. Clams from the Sphaeriidae family invariably dominated but with a different species composition. The disappearance of the protected Anodonta cygnea and Sphaerium rivicola has been noted, and the occurrence of the protected Unio crassus has also been noted.